First Game of the Year
by Kishiro Kitsune
Summary: Pottertalia Y1. One of the Slytherin beaters gets injured mid-game and Matthew has to step up and take his place.
**Note** : This takes place after _Inter-House Study Group_ , but can be read without knowing anything about that one. (Though it would help.) _An Unusual Sorting_ and _Patronus_ are also part of the same universe.

 **First Game of the Year**

The day of the first Quidditch game of the year had arrived and the whole school was buzzing with excitement. There was a cheer and energy in the Slytherin House that Matthew had never seen in the months since he'd arrived. He even caught sight of a small smile from Lars Peeters, the tall and stoic keeper from Holland.

Lucien Dalca, the team captain and the best chaser to have graced the House in _years_ , was in his usual good spirits. He looked completely relaxed and comfortable as he ate breakfast with his friends and fellow chaser, dark-haired Damyan Nikolov.

The rest of the team was spread out along the table.

Matthew could see the third and final chaser, Eric Hale, sitting midway down the table talking to Cain Miller, who was one of the beaters. The other beater was seventh year Abigail Christensen, who sat surrounded by her friends, taking small bites of food as she listened to them talk. The last member of the team was the seeker, tiny and light-haired Aurelie Parker, who was, as always, sitting next to her twin sister, Celestine.

Matthew had to keep reminding himself that he had no reason to be nervous. As a first year, he technically wasn't allowed to be on the team, but Lucien had talked his way around that little rule by insisting on training him as a reserve player. He'd been told multiple times that the odds of him being called in during the first game were extremely unlikely. Lucien had even told him to go sit in the stands and watch the game from there.

He glanced at the Hufflepuff table, trying to gauge how his friends were feeling.

Feliciano Vargas was chatting away as cheerful as ever, sandwiched between curly-haired Antonio Carriedo and white-haired Gilbert Beilschmidt. While Feliciano was only a first year and had no interest in playing the sport, both Antonio and Gilbert were on their House team. Gilbert was a beater while Antonio was the star chaser.

Neither looked the least bit nervous.

Matthew's gaze slid down the table to where the rest of the team sat. (The only reason he knew was thanks to Lucien, who took the time to point out every single member of every other team. It also helped that Gilbert and Antonio were both very chatty, and had no problem talking about Quidditch in their secret Inter-House room.)

There was Katyusha Braginsky and Toris Laurinatis, the remaining two chasers, who sat on either side of their rather intimidating captain. Not only was Ivan Braginsky tall for a fourth year, he had the muscle mass to go along with it. It didn't help that he had the tendency to dress in layers, even in the warm weather. Near them was their keeper, Berwald Oxenstierna, who was almost as stoic as Lars, except it was easy to catch him with a smile when he was near his Gryffindor friend, Timo.

Matthew didn't see their seeker, but that wasn't unusual. Skylar Harris was notorious for showing up late to everything.

"All of this fuss over a silly game," Francis Bonnefoy huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Though I guess we should be thankful for a year where we don't immediately face off against Gryffindor. We'd be dealing with tripping jinxes all day otherwise!"

Matthew looked away from the Hufflepuff table. "Is it really that bad? I know our House doesn't get along with any of the others, but..."

Francis nodded solemnly. "They say before the war it wasn't so bad. The animosity was still there, but not like it is now. It's said, really." He took a moment to cast his gaze around their noticeably less crowded table. "New students hear the name Slytherin and assume the worst. Even those of us who are from outside of Britain. I'm sure there are many who even request not to be placed here. There are only five first years, including yourself, no?"

Matthew nodded.

"The years get smaller every year," Francis sighed. "Soon there won't be any new Slytherin's. Everyone's too afraid. I suppose I don't blame them." He wistfully looked to the Hufflepuff table, where Antonio and Gilbert were openly laughing. "Even still, I made my choice."

"Do you ever regret it?"

Francis looked away from his friends. "Sometimes. But overall I'm happy here. The friends I do have are ones worth having."

Matthew blushed at the obvious compliment.

Francis took a sip of pumpkin juice and then cleared his throat. "So, planning on going to the game? Should be an interesting one."

"Ludwig and Al said they'd save us seats, so we'll see how that turns out. Do you want to sit with us?" Matthew asked.

"Unfortunately, I cannot," Francis said, shaking his head. "There are a few things I need to take care of. Just be careful. There are some who won't like seeing you all sitting together."

Matthew caught sight of Feliciano getting up and making his way over. He sighed and stood up. "I'll be careful. See you after the game?"

Francis nodded.

.

* * *

.

When Matthew and Feliciano arrived at the stands, they found an unexpectedly large group waiting for them. Matthew could only assume that Ludwig, anticipating a higher level of hostility towards them than normal, had found a few friendly upper years willing to sit with them.

On the top row was Elizaveta Héderváry, a Gryffindor third year who was friends with Matthew's brother, Alfred Jones. Sitting with her were three boys, two of whom were on the Gryffindor team with her. The third was a Ravenclaw who looked much more interested in his book than anything going on around him.

Matthew recognized all of them.

Right next to Elizaveta was Timo Väinämöinen, who had swapped out his scarlet and gold scarf for one of yellow and black, most likely in support of his best friend, Berwald. Beside him was Mathias Densen, who was trying his best to get the Ravenclaw boy, Lukas Bondevik, to pay attention to him. Elizaveta, Timo, and Mathias all played Quidditch for Gryffindor, while Lukas was on the Ravenclaw team.

On the next row down was Ludwig. At first Matthew thought he was sitting alone, but then he spotted Feliciano's older brother, Lovino Vargas, sitting way down on the other end.

Seated on the very bottom row was Alfred and his two Ravenclaw friends, Kiku Honda and Arthur Kirkland. While Kiku had been a part of their group for several months, Arthur was a new addition. Matthew wasn't really sure what to think of him, but he seemed friendly enough and wasn't openly hostile towards him, so he was willing to welcome to their Secret Room. (A room which was steadily becoming less and less of a secret.)

Feliciano and Matthew joined Ludwig in the middle row just as the game kicked off with a sharp whistle from Madam Hooch. The players flew into action, moving faster than most were able to keep up with.

Matthew watched the game closer than most, amazed by the obvious shift in demeanor by the Slytherin team. He'd seen enough in practice to know how good they were, but when pitted against another team they all became deadly serious. He was pretty sure Lucien was spitting insults at the Hufflepuff chasers as the quaffle rapidly changed hands (and teams).

He shifted his gaze to Lars, who looked more determined than he'd ever seen, slowly circling the goal posts, on edge and ready to speed up the moment anyone got close.

Soaring high above everyone were the two seekers, Aurelie and Skylar.

Feliciano leaned forward to yell down to Lovino. "Antonio's just as good as you said, _fratello_!"

Lovino was too focused on the match to give his usual grumpy response. He sat on the edge of his seat, watching the Spaniard weave seamlessly around the Slytherin players, perfectly in sync with his teammates as they made their way towards the goal posts.

"HUFFLEPUFF SCORES!"

Cheers exploded through the stands.

Matthew politely clapped as Feliciano bounded to his feet in delight.

The game went on.

Twice the seekers raced around the pitch, but each time something or someone blocked their paths, causing them to lose sight of the snitch.

The longer the game went on, the more desperate the Slytherin team became. Shots got wilder. Passes inconsistent. Lucien started shouting more at his own team than the opposing one.

Hufflepuff scored again.

"I almost feel bad for Dalca," Elizaveta remarked. "His first game as captain and he's already falling apart." She sighed. "I expect more from my rival."

"He'll pull it together," Matthew said confidently, just loudly enough for her to hear.

The moment the words left his mouth, Gilbert smashed his bat against a bludger, sending it shooting straight into the elbow of one of the Slytherin beaters.

Matthew gasped and stood up for a better look, along with most of the crowd.

Lucien frantically signaled for a time out as half of the team rushed to keep Cain from free-falling to the ground and hurting himself even worse. The others got to work on getting the bludgers under control so no one else would get hurt.

"Mattie." Feliciano tugged the sleeve of Matthew's robe to get his attention. "Shouldn't you go down there? You're the reserve, right?"

"Ah. Right," Matthew murmured. He started to make his way down from the stands, apologizing to everyone who had to move to let him pass. His friends watched him go, puzzled.

Alfred twisted around to talk to Feliciano. "Where's Matt going? I know his team's losing, but that's no reason to leave!"

Feliciano hesitated. Matthew had asked him not to tell anyone, but they were about to find out anyway, so that meant it was okay to tell. Right? He waited a moment, watching as Matthew ran across the field towards his team. "Um, well, Mattie's the reserve. So I guess they'll be putting him in as a replacement."

There was a brief moment where everyone took time to process that statement, and then there was an explosion of noisy exclamations from Alfred and the three members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"But he's a first year!"

"No fair!"

"They won't let him play, will they?"

"He's so _tiny_ though!"

Feliciano shrank back, scooting closer to Ludwig for protection. "I-I don't know!"

Elizaveta crossed her arms over her chest. "Damn. I knew Dalca was too smug about the team this year. Never thought he'd convince the Headmistress to let a first year on."

"It's probably why he's reserve," Timo pointed out. "But he's so small... will he really be stepping in as a beater?"

Feliciano shrugged. He didn't know anything more.

"Matt's stronger than you'd think," Alfred spoke up from the bottom row.

His words managed to quiet the others for a few minutes as the teams reassembled. At some point, Matthew had disappeared along with one of the chasers, but he returned to the pitch clad in the emerald robes of the Slytherin team.

Low murmurs broke out across the stands.

Madam Hooch cast a _sonorus_ charm on herself to address the crowd. "Due to injury, Slytherin beater Cain Miller has been pulled from the game! Matthew Williams will step in to take his place!"

Matthew walked over to Cain and the two exchanged a few words before the older boy insistently handed over his broomstick, taking the school-issued one for himself. Cain quickly left the field, hurried along by Madam Pomfrey.

"Braginsky does not look happy about this," Timo murmured, watching as the Hufflepuff captain descended to argue about the ruling.

"Do you think they did it on purpose? Tried to knock someone out of the game so they'd have to forfeit?" Alfred asked, concerned.

"No." Elizaveta, Mathias, and Timo all spoke at once.

"Ivan wouldn't do that," Elizaveta said. "And even if he did demand it, Gilbert would never go along with something so underhanded. Did you see the look on his face when he realized what happened?"

Alfred looked relieved. "So Matt will be okay?"

There was an expression of mild amusement on Mathias's face. "I wouldn't say that. Braginsky can be kind of a bully, even if he doesn't mean to be. And Matthew's not only a newbie, he's also in _Slytherin_. He's not going to have an easy time."

Elizaveta was quick to step in when she saw Alfred's crestfallen face. "He won't actually hurt him! I think..."

"I don't think you're helping," Ludwig spoke up.

Feliciano excitedly gestured towards the pitch. "They're starting up again! Look at Mattie go!"

They all turned their attention back to the game as the quaffle and bludgers were once again released and the players flew into action. Matthew and the other Slytherin beater, Abigail, circled around, trying to get a good flow going.

"Matt's nervous," Alfred noted.

Next to him, Arthur scoffed and spoke up for the first time since Feliciano sat down. "Of course he is! He just got tossed into the game after watching the last beater get his elbow shattered! Anyone would be nervous."

Alfred said nothing more and watched his brother with an expression of pure worry.

"There goes Ivan," Elizaveta said, keeping her voice low enough that Alfred couldn't hear her from two rows below. She, along with Timo, Mathias, and Lukas, watched as the captain whacked a bludger away from Katyusha, redirecting it into Matthew's path.

Alfred groaned and looked away, unable to stand it. Everyone else held their breath, waiting to see what he'd do.

Matthew lifted his bat and struck hard. A deafening _CRACK!_ split the air as the bludger went rocketing away, narrowly missing Aurelie.

The Slytherin seeker braked hard and then laughed out of surprise. She shouted something back to him and he nodded before she went on her way.

" _What_."

Mathias glanced over at Timo, who was leaning forward, violet eyes wide, mouth slightly open in shock. "Alright over there?" He asked, sounding amused.

"I want him."

Elizaveta tried not to laugh. "Well we can't have him, sweetie. He's not in our House."

"But that-! Did you _see_ that?" Timo struggled to speak clearly. "That was- holy shit, look at Braginsky! Is... is he _smiling_? Oh, that's never good."

"I think he might actually be impressed," Elizaveta said.

Beneath them, Feliciano was attempting to convince Alfred he should open his eyes and watch the game instead of cringing every time a bludger got anywhere near his brother. Ludwig and Kiku stayed out of it, but Arthur made an attempt.

It was Lovino who got him to watch again, with a well-timed: "Do you really want to explain to him that you were too much of a coward to watch? Some Gryffindor you are."

"Aw, Lovi! You do care!" Feliciano cooed.

"Shut up."

Chatter died down as the game raged on.

The Slytherin team was clearly re-energized by the addition of Matthew and his ability to counter any of the bludgers Ivan knocked in his direction.

A well-aimed strike towards Antonio gave Slytherin possession of the quaffle. Seconds later, Lucien managed to get it past Berwald and through a goal hoop.

"SLYTHERIN SCORES!"

A quiet cheer rose up through the stands, but was soon drowned out by booing from the rest of the Houses.

"You know, if they're allowed to keep him for the rest of the season, Slytherin could be an actual contender this year," Mathias remarked, somehow managing to be heard over Timo's shouts for Berwald to "kick his ass".

"McGonagall wouldn't allow that. They only pulled Miller because Pomfrey wouldn't have it any other way," Elizaveta said. "His arm will be healed by morning and he'll be back training with the team. Next year though..."

Mathias groaned. "Sadik's going to call an emergency practice after this, I just know it. And it's gonna suck."

Lukas cleared his throat. "Parker's going for the snitch. That will be the end of the game unless Gilbert notices."

Gilbert did notice, but it was too late. Before he could intervene in any way, Aurelie's hand closed around the golden snitch, ending the game with a victory for Slytherin. The announcement of the winner could barely be heard over the sound of the Slytherin's celebrating. Not even the boos from other Houses could dampen their spirits.

Feliciano clung to Ludwig's arm as they all began to stand. "We should go see Mattie!"

Elizaveta was quick to stop him. "I'd wait. We won't get anywhere near him right now."

Feliciano shook his head. "He's my friend and I'm going to go congratulate him. Coming, Luddy?"

Ludwig nodded.

Matthew landed harder than he meant to, unable to stop himself from smiling as his teammates swooped down around him. Lucien stumbled as he came down to earth, but much like Matthew he was too pumped up to care.

Above them, Aurelie took another victory lap with the golden snitch clasped tightly in her hand.

"Not bad, kid," Lucien complimented. "Wish I'd have known you can hit that hard. I would've trained you as a beater from the start. Just thought there was a better chance of Lars or Aurelie getting hurt..." He paused, eyeing Matthew critically. "You'll just have to train harder now."

Matthew gulped. He didn't like the sound of that.

* * *

END

* * *

Introducing:

Lars Peeters = Netherlands  
Lucien Dalca = Romania  
Damyan Nikolov = Bulgaria

and a handful of OC's that I needed in order to fill out the Slytherin team.


End file.
